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DIPOL Weekly Review - TV and SAT TV, CCTV, WLAN

No. 2/2008 (Jan. 14, 2008)

Viva Las Vegas! - CES 2008. The show took place from 7 to 10 of January, 2008 - truly the largest consumer electronics trade fair in the world. There were over 2700 exhibitors - about twice as much as at IFA in Berlin. But not the number of exhibitors is decisive for the importance of CES, but their marketing potential. The conferences are attended by prominent persons - usually the presidents of world giants. This year the strongest impression was made by Bill Gates. The owner of Microsoft informed about agreement with NBC on cooperation in providing coverage of Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. He also presented his concepts of development of computer technology - the most interesting ones include use of 3D techniques, and "natural interfaces" between the computer and the man (voice, touch). As usual, the highlight of the show was presentation of the largest television screen. Two years ago it was 103 inches, last year - 108 inches, and this year... plasma panel of Panasonic had 150-inch screen (381 cm)! The company did not say how much the mega-panel will cost - probably such television with 8.84 million pixel image resolution won't be cheaper than $100,000 (USD). Similar sensation was induced by 11-inch High Definition OLED television Sony XEL-1. The first HDTV set with OLED (Organic Light-Emitting Diode) screen makes a next breakthrough in display technology - it ensures low power consumption, high contrast and peak brightness, excellent color reproduction - pure and vivid colors in both dark and bright images. All this comes with a "hair's breadth" of the screen - the thickness of XEL-1 screen is about 3 mm! So far, there are problems with production of larger screens, and the innovation has its price - in the case of this model it is about $2500. Like every year, the cnet.com website announced the list of products of the categories represented at CES, nominated to "Best of CES awards". The list shows the newest technological trends and also expresses consumers' views on the market.Here are the category winners.

Sony XEL-1 - the first HDTV television in OLED technology (Organic Light-Emitting Diode) (Picture by Sony)

9-cable system - multiswitch installations. The most flexible multiswitch installations in multi-story buildings are based on 9-cable system (signals from two Quatro LNBs and terrestrial TV antenna). On each floor we employ the splitter providing signals to multiswitches. It allows to shape the network according to actual requirements - we may deploy practically unlimited number of outlets. As an example: - According to the developer's requirements, each apartment has been equipped with one satellite cable. But after a year, many or the residents have bought twin PVR receivers and want to get next signal. The solution is simple - on the floors where we need more cables we change the multiswitches for more capacious ones - the rest of the installation does not require any change and the whole system functions normally. The new series of 9-input Terra MSR-9XX multiswitches is dedicated both for home installations, as well as for multi-story buildings - as story devices. An important feature of these multiswitches is diversification of signal levels at different outputs, which enables the installer to compensate the losses in cables of different lengths that are unavoidable in such systems. Additionally, the multiswitches have been equipped with correction of cable's characteristics, i.e. the signal level is increased adequately to the growth of cable's attenuation for higher frequencies.

Application of MSR-912 multiswitches in 9-cable systems

How to choose a mount for the LCD television? The MIS (Mounting Interface Standard) or FDMI (Flat Display Mounting Interface) standards of installation of flat panels (LCD/plasma monitors and televisions) has been developed by VESA (Video Electronics Standards Association). Originally there has been accepted MIS-D standard, with 100mm distances between the mounting hole centers, arranged in a square - for typical panels, and 75mm counterpart - for smaller monitors/televisions. There are used M4x10 screws to fix the panel to the mount. Since 2006 the standard family has been extended by MIS-F versions - for larger screens - 31-90 inches (79-230 cm).

There are two possibilities of selecting the appropriate mount/arm. In the case of a universal mount the manufacturer gives the range of screen size of the panels that the mount is suitable for. When assuming a specific screw pattern, the producer informs about it, specifying e.g. VESA MIS-D 100, 100 x 100 mm etc.

Picture adjustments in CCTV cameras - OSD functions. First CCTV cameras usually did not have any regulators. Later there were introduced control elements allowing modification of some parameters, e.g. switching on/off electronic shutter, BLC (Back Light Compensation), AWB (Auto White Balance) etc. with microswitches placed on the camera case. These days the increasingly popular method of camera adjustment involves OSD (On-Screen Display). It eliminates the need of implementing an array of microswitches and potentiometers that we can sometimes see in more advanced models. An advanced OSD system has been implemented, for example, in the SN-586C/B M11208 camera with DSP sensor, made by Pixim. All picture parameters are adjustable with the use of buttons situated on the rear panel of the camera case. The manufacturer has enabled the user to save camera settings in the memory, to preset the camera before on-the-spot calibration. The user has full control over all parameters, from video norm, through AWB, ES, BLC, Gamma, ...., to specific settings connected with WDS (Wide Dynamic Sensor). The camera has a lot of advanced options that are not accessible in other models: - D/N Control - setting the threshold of Color to B/W switching and vice versa, - privacy zones - possibility of concealing some parts of the image (with black area), - motion detection - additional information on the screen after the image has changed, - mirror - mirror image, - title - camera name.

OSD has considerable decreased the number of control elements. The camera on the right - M11208, equipped with OSD, has much more setting options than the camera on the left, with microswitches.

Wireless IP camera in outdoor housing. Some installers cannot resist the temptation to employ a wireless IP camera in outdoor housing, without sticking-out antenna. We have tested quality of transmission between wireless camera Pixord P400W K1132 put into the best-fitting housing - Marathon TS-816 M5407, and access point (AP) located about 20 meters from the camera. The first problem is arrangement of the camera antennas - they cannot be set vertically, but only horizontally or in an intermediate position - we have tested various arrangements. The tests have shown that the metal housing decreases by half signal level. So, is the game worth the candle? Yes, when there is no possibility of laying cables, either by land or by air (e.g. on poles). This solution is easy to implement and cheap. However, we have to remember about using access point with a high-gain antenna (depending on the distance), to compensate the loss of signal caused by the camera housing.

Professional software for IP CCTV systems. NetStation is an advanced network system designed for managing video and audio material in video surveillance system. The software cooperates with majority of CCTV devices, especially from leading manufacturers. NetStation is suitable for both IP and analog cameras (with appropriate cards), and mega-pixel devices (e.g. K1412, K1422, K1431) that create a new quality of monitoring systems and will introduce new standards of video surveillance. Remote client software enables simultaneous unlimited access to the archives and live images from up to 64 cameras. Netstation allows to use PTZ cameras (e.g. K1214, K1215). It has been equipped with all popular protocols, as well as with possibility of adding next positions or editing new ones. The cameras can be controlled by keyboard, mouse, or USB joystick - K9153.

Remote monitoring via Internet. Easy access to the Internet allows to distribute in the Web both live and archived video. Many users have access over ADSL links, without static IP addresses. In this case, to operate video servers it is indispensable to use DDNS service. The details have been described in the article What is DDNS and how to use it?. Application in the local network more than one IP device requires to employ a router. TP-Link ADSL (Annex A) router TD-8840 with integrated 4-port switch (N2905) fulfills all the requirements. The diagram shown below illustrates the concept of home LAN which enables the residents to operate their computers and distribute via Internet both live and recorded video data (from the DVR).

ADSL connection used for remote surveillance

Cheap WISP - WA-2204C N2647. Thanks to alternative software we can have a cheap client device with wireless router feature. The positive aspect of N2647 is also small size, enabling the user to put it into an outdoor housing protecting the AP against changeable weather conditions. Using the N9205 PoE adapters, the access point can be remotely powered via the UTP/FTP cable. Inside the building it is enough to mount a switch and distribute the links. The software is installed in the same way as firmware update. It is available here.

We have written about:

Problems with implementation of LAN? - Let's build WLAN. Internet access is nowadays indispensable functionality of every office block, hotel or warehouse. When the building is not equipped with wired LAN infrastructure, the quick, cheap and effective way of solving the problem is wireless network... - archive DWR of Sept. 17, 2007

DiSEqC - switching of satellite signals. The need for switching satellite signal from demanded LNB to the receiver is the reason for development of dedicated solutions... - archive DWR of Aug. 20, 2007